Pension fund assets top £30 billion - survey

For the first time, total Irish pension fund assets topped £30 billion (€38.1 billion) at the end of 1998, according to the Annual Investment Survey published by the Irish Association of Pension Funds. The value of assets increased by almost 17 per cent to £30.8 billion from £26.4 billion in 1997. Irish pension holders may be keen to know the weighting of their pension fund following these results. Irish property leads the performance in the funds, returning 39.2 per cent. This was followed by European equities (ex-UK) at 27.2 per cent, Irish equities at 25.5 per cent and North American equities at 24 per cent. British equities showed a return of 12.3 per cent. Asian returns were down, reflecting the crisis last year, with Japanese equities showing just a 1.8 per cent return and Pacific equities were minus 9.5 per cent.